<i>"For the Minuteman ICBM force, the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command worried that in times of need the codes would not be available, so they quietly decided to set them to 00000000; checking this combination was even present on the launch checklists. This was not changed until 1977."</i><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_Action_Link#Development_and_Dissemination" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_Action_Link#Developm...</a>
Yeah and many hackers types that have worked around WMDs knew how they could do such and such, but that's why there's the PRP (Personnel Reliability Program) program, psychological interviews, polygraphs (yeah yeah, not scientific), and security clearances and background checks.<p>Not to be dismissive, it's a hole certainly.
Well, I don’t think my eyes have ever bugged out so much over an HN submission title!<p>⁂<p>> <i>The Presidential identification (ID) codes … could delay implementation long enough to prevent a rapid response</i><p>To me, a naïve human who doesn’t want to see a nuclear winter, it seems that we should be optimizing for <i>human life</i> instead of <i>immediate revenge.</i> I would even dare to hope the response to a nuclear launch would be to <i>roll over and surrender</i> for the greater good. And while I’m no expert in game theory, I suppose the official line is that guaranteeing <i>mutually assured destruction</i> was the only way to prevent <i>all</i> nuclear attacks.